Nevadan may have tried to stop abuse

Jace Radke

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

A transcript of a hearing into the scandal at Abu Ghraib notes that a Nevada National Guard soldier may have tried to report prisoner abuse at the Iraq prison last year only to be reprimanded by supervisors.

According to a transcript obtained by The New York Times, Special Agent Tyler Pieron of the U.S. Army's criminal investigation command testified at the hearing that a systems analyst had told him of an "older woman" with the Nevada National Guard who had documented abuse but was reprimanded by her chain of command for doing so.

Pieron, the case manager in charge of the investigation, testified that there were rumors and suspicions of abuse among personnel before the formal investigation started in January.

The commander of the Nevada National Guard, Adjutant Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, said that he had not heard about this report before this morning.

"We had a number of discussions and after action reviews with all of our soldiers who redeployed from Southwest Asia, and everything we've heard has been positive regarding the conduct of our soldiers," Vanderhoof said. "It's disturbing to us that this third-hand account has come forward, and we will follow up to determine if there is validity to this report."

First Lt. April Conway, spokeswoman for the Nevada National Guard, said this morning that she couldn't comment on Pieron's testimony at the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury session.

Conway did confirm that there are female soldiers with the 72nd Military Police, a Henderson-based unit that was deployed to Iraq in May 2003 and returned to Las Vegas in November after spending about six months guarding prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Conway said that no allegations of mistreatment of prisoners have been leveled at the 72nd, and that, "we have not been contacted by anyone investigating the abuse."

Michael Hillerby, chief of staff for Gov. Kenny Guinn, said he has directed Vanderhoof to find out what happened.

Hillerby said he talked to Vanderhoof a week ago and was told that the soldiers with the 72nd "were not involved" in the prisoner abuse.

Hillerby said it may take a while to determine exactly what happened because the testimony is secondhand and the woman is not identified by name. In addition, he said it's not known whether this woman was reporting to a Nevada National Guard superior or if she was assigned to another unit.

About 110 soldiers from the 72nd were deployed to Iraq in May and were stationed at the prison through October, overlapping for about three weeks with the Maryland unit now stationed at the prison.

Conway said that upon returning from deployments soldiers have a chance to talk to National Guard officials about any concerns, and that she knows of nothing that came up in these after-action review sessions that relates to what is reported in the transcript.

In interviews last week, several soldiers with the 72nd said they did not see any of the abuse that included stripping Iraqi prisoners naked and putting them in humiliating poses, when they were stationed at the prison.

"We had policies and procedures in place for the prisoners, but by no stretch of the imagination did they include the things we've seen," said Daryl Keithley, the 72nd's first sergeant, during an interview last week. "There was no taking off of their clothes and making them stand off in an area, or anything like what has been shown in the photos."

According to the transcript of the May 1 hearing, Pieron testified that a systems analyst, Sgt. Samuel J. Provance III, said he overheard conversations describing what military police units did to prisoners -- "using them as practice dummies and knocking them out."

Provance also reported the information about the Nevada National Guard soldier trying to report abuse.

And, Pieron said, he thought "several people suspected abuse but did not report it," according to the transcript.

Provance, testified that the Nevada National Guardsman told him that, "she was afraid of her chain of command" and sent the documentation of the abuse to her relatives.

Sari Mann, a spokeswoman for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said that Ensign is aware of the situation.

"Our office is taking steps to look into it," Mann said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., first heard of a Nevada National Guard soldier trying to report abuse this morning, a spokeswoman with his office said.

"If this is true then it points to what I said all along that there is a much larger problem with the chain of command," Reid said through a spokeswoman.

A spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. both said they were concerned when hearing about the report involving a Nevada National Guard soldier.

"We're seeking more information about this, and Congresswoman Berkley is disturbed by the allegations of abuse of prisoners and the questions about the chain of command," Berkley spokesman David Cherry said.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., did not have a comment this morning.

Porter saw more photos of the abuse that took place at the prison yesterday, and said he was appalled.

"The depictions of abuse are shameful and cannot stand," Porter said. "We cannot let the horrific actions of a few dishonor the brave men and women in our military.

"I am confident that the Army will conduct a full and thorough investigation into any and all allegations and will hold those guilty accountable."

Another specialist in the reserves told Provance of a military police soldier who "pretended to be a dog" because the detainees were so fearful of the animals, according to the transcript.

"I knew that some of the stuff was authorized and did not need to be reported," he said.

"I talked to one woman about it only being a matter of time before the abuse got out and the investigation initiated," he testified. "I spoke to at least everyone that I knew about how the place was poorly run.

"The response I got was that it was a lot worse under Saddam."

In one instance, the transcript shows, an incident of abuse was reported -- but apparently to a staff sergeant who has since been charged with abuse.

Pieron testified that the seven soldiers now charged would wait until officers went home at night to abuse the prisoners and detainees, according to the transcript.

A member of their battalion, Sgt. 1st Class Shannon Snider, had yelled at them after seeing one of the soldiers subsequently charged, Sgt. Javal S. Davis, step on a detainee, Pieron said.

"It became clear to me that they knew Sgt. 1st Class Snider would not tolerate these acts," Pieron testified.

Another witness, a systems analyst with an intelligence unit who was stationed at the prison starting in September 2003, said that two soldiers had been relieved of their duties guarding prisoners in November or December of that year -- one because he was too aggressive, and another because she had made a detainee strip and walk to his cell naked in front of other prisoners.

The 72nd was the first military police unit to guard prisoners at Abu Ghraib, located about 20 miles west of Baghdad. The prison sits on 280 acres behind 15-foot-high stone walls that run a mile long on each of the four sides of the complex.

For the first 3 1/2 months the unit was at the prison they were alone guarding Iraqis who had committed crimes that were not war-related, such as robbery or murder. By midsummer the prison started to get captives that were prisoners of war, and military intelligence set up at the prison and began conducting interrogations, Keithley said.

The soldiers with the 72nd never participated in any interrogations, Keithley said.

The unit's commanding officer, Capt. Troy Armstrong, was interviewed by the general in charge of the Nevada Army Guard about the 72nd's experiences in Iraq after the photos first surfaced.

During their time at the prison, the complex was constantly shelled by mortars, they said.

About 15-20 Iraqi prisoners were killed in mortar attacks, and others died of heart attacks, local guard officials said.

Members of the 72nd were awarded 10 Purple Hearts during its deployment, and the entire unit returned home safely.

During the Article 32 hearing, another witness testified that at least two of the people in the graphic photographs at the center of the abuse scandal were members of a military intelligence unit assigned to interrogate prisoners.

Pieron testified that at least some of the detainees who were abused were not being prepared for interrogation. They had rioted, he said, and the abuse was done in retaliation for rioting.

The May 1 hearing was conducted to consider whether to court-martial one of the seven soldiers soldiers accused of abuse, Spc. Megan M. Ambuhl.

One individual reported abuse to his noncommissioned officer-in-charge, who reported it to Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick III, not realizing that he was, in fact, "the perpetrator in this incident," Pieron said in the transcript.

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